Abstract
Background:During the past several decades, numerous centers have acquired significant expertise in the treatment of skull base pathologies. Favorable outcomes are not only due to meticulous surgical planning and execution, but they are also related to the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines. We review the impact of teamwork on patient care, elaborate on the key processes for successful teamwork, and discuss its challenges.Methods:Pubmed and Medline databases were searched for publications from 1970 to 2012 using the following keywords: “teamwork”, “multidisciplinary”, “interdisciplinary”, “surgery”, “skull base”, “neurosurgery”, “tumor”, and “outcome”.Results:Current literature testifies to the complexity of establishing and maintaining teamwork. To date, few reports on the impact of teamwork in the management of skull base pathologies have been published. This lack of literature is somewhat surprising given that most patients with skull base pathology receive care from multiple specialists. Common factors for success include a cohesive and well-integrated team structure with well-defined procedural organization. Although a multidisciplinary work force has clear advantages for improving today's quality of care and propelling research efforts for tomorrow's cure, teamwork is not intuitive and requires training, guidance, and executive support.Conclusions:Teamwork is recommended to improve quality over the full cycle of care and consequently patient outcomes. Increased recognition of the value of an integrated team approach for skull base pathologies will hopefully encourage centers, physicians, allied health caregivers, and scientists devoted to treating these patients and advancing the field of knowledge to invest the time, effort, and resources to optimize and organize their collective expertise.
Highlights
Favorable outcomes in patients afflicted with skull base pathologies are due to meticulous surgical planning and execution, they are due to the collaborative efforts of numerous medical specialties and allied healthcare givers.[29]
Through concrete examples of multidisciplinary work, this manuscript reviews the impact of teamwork on care for patients afflicted with skull base pathologies, highlights the critical concepts of teamwork, and discusses its challenges and future avenues
In the context of multidisciplinary teams caring for patients with skull base pathologies, the leader should be a member of the surgical team, as surgeons are best suited to coordinate treatment planning, perioperative management and posttreatment care
Summary
As a subspecialty including open and endoscopic approaches, continues to evolve, favoring minimal access approaches in order to reduce surgical morbidity and mortality, preserve neurological function, as well as cosmesis.[3,4] Using the most direct and least destructive corridor, or combination of corridors, is paramount to the minimal access concept.[7,18,30,42] favorable outcomes in patients afflicted with skull base pathologies are due to meticulous surgical planning and execution, they are due to the collaborative efforts of numerous medical specialties and allied healthcare givers.[29]. Through concrete examples of multidisciplinary work, this manuscript reviews the impact of teamwork on care for patients afflicted with skull base pathologies, highlights the critical concepts of teamwork, and discusses its challenges and future avenues.
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